3. "When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets," Papa would say, "she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized with longing."Author: Katherine Dunn

4. "Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you suppose to be dead? Currently being chased by two Cabals? You're waltzing around Vancouver, eating in restaurants?" (Ash)"Hell no," Corey said. "I never waltz. I do the fox-trot sometimes though."Author: Kelley Armstrong

5. "Reaver was about to go where angels feared to tread. He supposed that really did make him a—"Fucking idiot."Reaver stared at Eidolon. "I was going to go with ‘fool.' Also, only a fucking idiot would call an angel a fucking idiot."The demon doctor stared back, his dark eyes glittering with gold flecks. "A fool would merely consider entering hell without a plan. Only a fucking idiot would be serious about waltzing into the Prince of Evil's living room in the very center of hell to kidnap Satan's little girl. Without a plan.""I have a plan," he muttered.Eidolon parked a tray of surgical tools next to the exam table Reaver was sitting on. "And your plan is?""Ah…it mostly involves sneaking in and sneaking out."Author: Larissa Ione

6. "Fred Astaire was a more formal, trained dancer who loved waltzing and only danced with the girls."Author: Leslie Caron

7. "I am waltzing with death, flirting with him, but he stands there smiling and saying nothing because he does not need to woo or be wooed: he knows he gets us all in the end."Author: Nenia Campbell

8. "Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear."Author: Patricia Fuller

9. "But who could blame them if it had been? Even she'd seen how hideously tyrannical Marshal Connors had become around the holidays. A suspicious number of people had simply begun disappearing off the compound at a terrifying rate during that time and even someone as lowly as she had begun to wonder how little it took to piss the brass off in those days. She'd even lessened her hours of day dreaming and speculating in order to appear busy just in case for some reason he came waltzing into the Payroll Department one day and actually spoke to her."Author: Santino Hassell

10. "My Papa's Waltz:The whiskey on your breathCould make a small boy dizzy;But I hung on like death:Such waltzing was not easy.We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf;My mother's countenanceCould not unfrown itself.The hand that held my wristWas battered on one knuckle;At every step you missedMy right ear scraped a buckle.You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt,Then waltzed me off to bedStill clinging to your shirt."Author: Theodore Roethke

11. "Within a couple of weeks of starting the Ph.D. program, though, she discovered that she'd booked passage on a sinking ship. There aren't any jobs, the other students informed her; the profession's glutted with tenured old men who won't step aside for the next generation. While the university's busy exploiting you for cheap labor, you somehow have to produce a boring thesis that no one will read, and find someone willing to publish it as a book. And then, if you're unsually talented and extraordinarily lucky, you just might be able to secure a one-year, nonrenewable appointment teaching remedial composition to football players in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, the Internet's booming, and the kids we gave C pluses to are waltzing out of college and getting rich on stock options while we bust our asses for a pathetic stipend that doesn't even cover the rent."Author: Tom Perrotta